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Was Iraq Worth It? It Was for Me

It was in the sands of Ramadi that I learned most people want to be masters of their own fate.

By

Brian M. Welke

Aug. 20, 2014 7:11 p.m. ET

Was it worth it? That's a question I've been asked no fewer than five times since large portions of Iraq have fallen to the murderous Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. As a Marine veteran who served a tour of duty in Ramadi in 2005-06, I understand that people are genuinely interested in how I now feel about my military service in Iraq.

When that question, which every veteran is inevitably faced with, rears its head, I respond with the same four words, albeit with the first two reversed: It was worth it. In my heart and...